Tick, Tick, Boom
by DollyPop12
Summary: Heiress extraordinaire Kimial Diehl, the very definition of having both silver spoon and paper plate, couldn't stand the frigid tinsel and glamour of Diehl manor any longer. Unfortunately, she faced the Real World with little more than her mother's celestial keys. That was, until she met Jackie, with heat in her soul and on her fingertips, who ignited Kim to the very bones.


"But Auntie Kim! Pleaaaaaase?" the toddler whined out, practically bouncing up and down, and Kim raised her hands in the universal sign for peace, her guild mark flashing back at her from the skin of her wrist.

"Shelley, there's not much story to tell, I promise," she assured, but the young girl would have none of it, stomping her foot down and practically making the entire floor shake. From her periphery, Kim saw Spirit laugh into his beer and she threw him a dirty look, tempted to flip him the bird.

It wasn't her fault that she was the only responsible one left in the guild who wasn't busy while Stein and Marie went on what had to have been their third damn honeymoon. Ever since the two of them got together, it had been nothing but romantic cruises and traveling off into the sunset together. Even having a child, Michelle 'Shelley' Stein, didn't hinder them in the slightest. And it wasn't as though they didn't want to take their 'sweet baby girl' with them; it was just that, as Spirit was fond of pointing out, there was no need to traumatize the little tot in regards to the birds and the bees, or, rather, the hammer and the screw, so early. But, hell, they'd offered to pay her to babysit for the week, so she supposed she wasn't really losing much.

Except her sanity , of course. Because while most people knew better than to push Kim while Jackie was off on a mission, Shelley was as curious as her father, and as forceful and stubborn as her mother, which made for the absolute worst combination imaginable.

"I wanna know!" Shelley said. "I already know how momma and poppa met! And- and you told me about uncle So-So and Maky! I wanna know about you and Auntie Jack-Jack!"

Kim almost had to reach up to massage her temples.

It was true. There was little else that would placate the child. Because if there was anything Shelley got from Marie, save for massive, golden eyes that could start wars and end them, both, it was her romantic heart.

And it wasn't as if Kim was reluctant to talk about her relationship with Jackie. She had long passed the point of trying to hide her attraction for her wife, long came to terms with her fear of homophobia when outside, holding hands with the woman she loved.

It was just that. . .well, explaining her first meeting with Jackie was a tad. . .complicated.

"Pleaaaase? Please please please please please? Please Auntie Kim? Please? Paaaaaleeeeaaaase? Pleasepleaseplease-"

"Okay! Okay! Just. . .sit down, or something," Kim grouched out, shooting another dirty look at Spirit who snorted into a new pitcher of beer. The man was awfully smug, considering he was still nursing a hangover four days after Nygus drank him under the table.

"Yay!" Shelley chirped out, clapping her chubby hands together and almost vibrating with excitement. Her silver hair, tied up in pigtails, bobbed from how she'd jumped in glee, the hairstyle an homage to her 'aunt Maky', one of Shelley's role models.

"Um. . ." Kim began, off to strong start. "Uh. . .once upon a time-"

"Ooooh! Were you a princess, Aunt Kim?" Shelley interrupted, and Kim almost tasted copper from how hard she bit at the inside of her cheek.

". . .yes. Yes, Shelley, I was."

"Did you- did you have a big castle? And a lot of friends? And-and pretty, shiny things?"

"It wasn't like that-"

"Was Jackie your kn-knight in shining arms?"

Kim knew that Shelley really meant 'armor', but Kim wasn't about to correct her. Instead, she looked off into the distance for a moment, remembering a life she had gladly put behind her.

"Yes. . .she was."

And at Shelley's squeal of delight, Kim tipped her lips up into a small smile. "But you'll never know if you keep interrupting me."

Shelley gasped, bringing both of her hands over her mouth, a muffled "I'll be quiet! No intuptions!" squeaked out, and Kim shook her head, leaning back in her chair.

"Okay, good. Now. . .once upon a time, there was a. . .princess. Who was very, very unhappy. Because she really didn't want to be a princess. Her castle was. . .cold and empty. And so, she ran away, looking for a little fire. . ."

* * *

"What do you mean this is the only magical shop in this town? Ten minutes out had three all on one block!" Kim exclaimed, frowning at the miniscule store that she had found herself in. The hunt for more celestial keys was proving more troublesome than she could have ever thought, and the tiny shack trying to pass as a legitimate store for mages was almost laughable. The salesman, an uninterested looking thirty-something-or-other only looked at her blankly.

"We're a dry town. Not too many mages make their way through here."

"But surely you have to have something? This is almost pathetic!" Kim huffed, looking at the various goods on the wall and reaching to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. As much as she despised almost everything that reminded her of her life before she ran off, she felt a strange sense of comfort in having her hair long.

"What you see is what you get," the clerk announced, before looking back down at the Magical Times and ignoring her completely. Kim scowled in the man's general direction, walking around the shop and perusing the glass cases.

There really was nothing to see. At best, it was all novelty, at worst, rubbish of the highest caliber. Kim sighed silently through her nose, reaching to finger one of the celestial keys she had in her possession. There wasn't much, just what was passed down to her by her mother before she passed.

At the thought of that, she swore the keys grew colder, as though in mourning, and Kim chewed the inside of her cheek.

There was no time for that, now. There was no business being sad over the body of a woman long dead. Though Kim knew that her mother, Cielo, still haunted the halls of the Diehl mansion with her bottomless, lifeless aqua eyes peering out from the countless paintings her father had commissioned of her.

What good was that, now? For all her mother's talent with summons and her healing touch, it wasn't enough to keep her from dying, and Kim didn't have it in her to dwell on the state of whether she would follow in her mother's footsteps.

She damn well hoped not. Summoning magic and healing aside, she and her mother had nothing in common. Not how they felt about Kim's father, not about how they felt about magic.

Kim shook her head, realizing that she had been staring into a display case that had color changing properties, shifting from green into purple, looking more like a bruise than anything else.

"That one is popular with the ladies," the clerk said from the side, likely having grown irritated that she'd loitered in the shop. Kim spared him a glance from the side, not bothering to soften her expression for his sake.

"Oh? Is it?" she asked dryly, preferring to be left perusing the waste of time that was the shop in relative peace.

"Mmm. Changes the color of your outfit. You know how girls can be! Always shopping for what they think is missing in their wardrobe!"

Kim was ready to go into one of her heated comments, about how outdated such gender roles were, but she was so damn tired of it all. Having lived amongst too many dresses and people who underestimated her, thinking she just had wardrobe on the mind for several years, she was sick of having to correct people. Instead, she only turned her back on the man.

"Yeah. Sure. Maybe that's why men always wear the same thing. They don't ever shop for what's missing in their wardrobe."

The irritated tsk that followed was enough to make Kim smirk slightly, walking away from that particular display case and heading over to another. With any luck, the man had burrowed his nose into the same magazine he had previously and had decided to mind his own damn business.

Just when she had passed by enough 'magical' bobbles to make her roll her eyes directly into her skull, she passed by a celestial key in a beautiful green box, and she almost gasped, but refrained. She hunched in slightly, pretending to adjust the pack she had slung on one shoulder so that she could better examine the contents.

Not too strong, disappointingly, but it wasn't as though Kim was expecting much different. Celestial Keys were rare, and the main, powerful ones, were often handed down or won in duels. The chances of finding something like Taurus in some off the grid shop in the middle of nowhere were unheard of. If it was too good to be true, it was most likely not.

Still, that didn't mean that Kim was about to let a key pass her. She'd been looking for a filler key for a while, anyway. Traveling could be awful lonely, and such a low level summon required little magic out of her and could provide adequate companion.

She did have to wonder how the shop keeper had managed to acquire the key in the first place, however. Especially in a dry town where she doubted that anyone at all could use magic.

Slowly, Kim weighed her options. On one hand, she could fork over a good chunk of her traveling money. She'd, almost stupidly, in her opinion, decided to forgo taking too much when she left home, wanting to wash her hands of Deihl manor completely. Usually, she'd horde money, since she knew it made the world go round, but if there was anything she hated more than she loved money, it was that horrible house. As such, with barely anything on her person, she was reluctant to pass up any of the monetary means she had to her name and her name alone.

Which, of course, left her second option. Taking while the taking was good. The only question, of course, was how. The display case was completely sealed, and a mage of keys she may be, but she didn't exactly possess the one that would open it. Discretion seemed to be out of the question.

Which left-

* * *

"Noooo!" Shelley exclaimed, her wide, golden eyes almost sparkling with unshed tears. "Did you stealed it? Mama says never to stealed!"

Kim brought her hands up once more, almost panicked at the intense reaction.

"Shelley-"

"Mama- mama says that people who stealed are bad! But- but Auntie Kim can't be bad! I love Auntie Kim!"

"No! No, people who steal aren't. . .all bad-"

Shelley wailed. "M-Mama l-lied?"

"No! No, your mother-"

Kim was cut off by yet another sad lament, and she had no idea how to reply to the visibly distressed child. And, by the quick look of things as Kim darted her eyes around the guild, no one else really knew how to deal with the situation either.

Kim should have known that would be when Jackie would make her entrance, coming back from yet another S-rank mission with a sigh on her lips and her pack slung over her shoulder. Her wife wasn't really one for dramatics, not intentionally, at least, but she always seemed to be thrown into them, regardless. Whether it was when she lit up in a fiery blush that could burn a house down or when she just so happened to walk in on drama, it simply seemed to follow her.

Shelley sobbed, running forward and zipping past Kim so fast that she only felt the breeze. It seemed that the toddler had inherited her father's speed, as well, because she moved as though she were a blur, throwing her arms around one of Jackie's legs, much to her absolute confusion.

"Sh-Shelley? What's wrong? What happened?" Jackie asked, immediately letting go of her pack and allowing it to fall with a thump onto the ground, looking down at Shelley for a moment before she looked up and met Kim's gaze. "Kim? Are you okay? Is everything alright?"

"I-" Kim started, but she was cut off, once more, by Shelley's high pitched wail. So much for no interruptions, she thought sourly.

"A-auntie Kim stealed, Auntie Jack-Jack! Auntie Kim-" Shelley hiccupped, rubbing her face against Jackie's skirt, transferring some of the tears onto the fabric.

"Woah, woah!" Jackie said, bringing both of her hands to Shelley's shoulders and dislodging the girl from her legs so she could kneel in front of her. "From the start, Shell?"

"I-I askeded Auntie Kim to- to tell how you two met and she- she was a princess and and her castle was sad and you was her knight in shining arms but she runned from home and she- she stealed! She stealed in the story!"

Jackie looked up from Shelley's face and almost couldn't contain the laughter bubbling up in her. Kim huffed, giving her wife a helpless look as though to tell her to fix it. Jackie breathed in deeply through her nose before she looked at the Stein spawn once more.

"Oh, Shelley, your Auntie Kim. . .she was. . .well, she was a different kind of princess. And she, well, she made a mistake. Like that time you ate too many cookies, remember?" Jackie placated, and Shelley sniffled, remembering the stomach ache and the mild scolding after she'd snuck into the cabinets and ate every single peanut butter and chocolate cookie in the entire guild.

"But. . .but. . ."

"Your Auntie Kim doesn't steal anymore, Shell. It was just one time," Jackie said, though she knew that Kim had filched quite a few things in her lifetime. Still, better not to send Shelley reeling into another upset fit. "And, anyway, that's how she met me!"

At this, Shelley's face lit up. "This is then?"

"Mmmhm," Jackie said, nodding and looking back at Kim once more, seeing her wife cross her arms in front of her. "Your Aunt- she, uh, sort of got caught."

"She wasn't a good stealer?"

"No, Shelley, she wasn't," Jackie lied. The truth of the matter was that Kim had just made a mistake, just as Jackie said. Not in stealing, but in how she did so. Having been on the road for so long, lacking sleep and having not eaten for the past few days leading up to their meeting, it was understandable why Kim had been sloppy.

"Oh! Okay!" Shelley exclaimed, and with that, she grasped Jackie's hand and started tugging her in Kim's general direction, her excited nature coming back. Jackie made a soft sound of surprise before she stumbled up to her feet, being led by the tiny girl until she was by Kim's side and Shelley plopped down in her seat once more.

Kim looked at her like she had grown a second head, but Shelley only squared her shoulders. "I sorry for being so upsetted. And for inrupting," she said, and looked at Kim as though expecting something. Kim blinked a few times, but Jackie gently bumped her shoulder, snickering.

"Oh- I, uh, I forgive you?"

"Okay!" Shelley chirped, and Kim couldn't help but feel as though she was gonna be on a hell of a ride when the girl got just a little older. With Marie's temper and Stein's insatiable curiosity, she was going to prove more than just a handful. Jackie gently pressed her hand to Kim's upper arm, squeezing slightly and Kim looked up at her, still seated while her wife was standing.

"I'm home," Jackie said, a warm smile on her face, and Kim tsked at her, though she couldn't help but smile back.

"Yeah, I noticed."

Jackie let loose a short laugh before she let go of her hold on Kim, and Kim couldn't help but feel that it had gotten so much colder all of a sudden without Jackie's comforting, familiar heat. But all Jackie did was reach for a chair, dragging it over so she could sit next to Kim, her hand finding Kim's in an old, well-practiced motion.

Shelley squealed, a love-struck look in her eyes, just like when she watched her favorite Disney movies, and Kim almost shifted in her seat, but Jackie was solid and comforting next to her, and she was smiling.

"So, Shelley, where did you two leave off?" Jackie asked, and Shelley grinned.

"When Auntie Kim was a bad stealer!"

Kim almost grumbled under her breath, but Jackie was already barreling on.

"Oh! Well, in that case! So, the young princess, tired and hungry and so far from her queendom, tried to take one of the magical keys. . ."

* * *

"What do you think you're doing? Stop!" the clerk yelled out as Kim tried scampering out of the shop. She knew, worst case scenario was that she could summon one of her keys, but running so low on her reserves, she really didn't want to risk burning out and fainting in the middle of the street. Her hand was bleeding, but she knew it was nothing her magic couldn't handle once she got out of the town.

With grace that betrayed her several years of ballroom dancing, Kim slammed the door open, not even looking to see where she was going before she ripped her way down the street. The salesman tore out of the shop as well, already on the phone with police.

Damn small towns. Their cops didn't ever have anything better to do. They were probably situated right next to the shop, too. Especially if the sound of running footsteps following her was anything to go by.

Kim spared a moment to glance behind her, cursing when her hypothesis was proven correct. She ducked her head down, shoving the key into her pack without a second thought and rummaging around for a cloak to cover her. She had features that were hard to miss, but the cloak made her appear absolutely shapeless, and the hood was large and cast shadows over her face, hiding her achingly aqua eyes.

As Kim turned the corner, sending a prayer up to whoever was listening, she wondered if she'd inherited her mother's luck, too, considering the fact that she'd barreled directly into someone. The soft, surprised sound was covered up by Kim's less quiet oof, having falling to the ground and landing directly on her butt.

But, on top of all that, it seemed as though she'd only run into one of several people, who were crowded together in the middle of the square.

"Ladies, ladies! There's no need to fight! I have enough attention for all of you!" a male voice rung out, but Kim didn't have the time to think about who the condescending prick was, considering the fact that she was still very much so running from police and had barely gotten a headstart to begin with. Kim looked up at the warm, confused face of a particularly pretty girl, and Kim blinked up at her.

"Um-" the woman began, eloquently, but Kim only started to struggle up to her feet, rushing to throw her cloak on her all at the same time. "Woah, woah-" she said, but Kim threw her a brutal look.

"I-" Kim started, about to say that she didn't have the time for small talk, but it was too late, and the police rounded the corner, as well.

And, all of a sudden, it was like a spell had been broken. The women in the crowd, that Kim could only see by peeking around the girl she had bumped into, all seemed confused all of a sudden, and the male voice let loose a gasp. As the women moved around, moseying and revealing him, Kim caught what appeared to be a bald head with. . .two brown spikes protruding from the sides? But he was running before she could catch more of his face other than his flashing glasses. The commotion that resulted might have saved her, had she been standing.

Too bad she wasn't.

Mother's luck indeed.

Jackie glanced up at the policemen that came onto the scene, her face looking relieved.

"Oh! Thank goodness! Officers-" the dark haired woman started, but instead of them going to see what was going on in the crowd, they only swooped down and grabbed Kim up, despite the fact that the woman was practically snarling. "W-what?" she said, the confusion in her brown eyes shining through. "What? Aren't you here for the man who set the charms?"

One of the policemen looked the girl over, top to bottom, almost sneering. "We were called to escort this thief ," he said, pulling on Kim's arm a tad too hard, making the other girl frown, "to the station."

There was a look of hesitancy in the woman's eyes before something set on her face. "Where's the shopkeeper? I'll pay for what she stole," she declared, and Kim looked at her in amazement, her mouth popping open.

In her world, it was a world of generosity not for the sake of charity or kindness, but simply to flaunt what you have. But this woman in front of her, a perfect stranger, not even knowing what she had stolen, even knowing that she had broken the law, even after Kim had been rude to her, was offering to pay.

The police officer seemed to be equally as surprised as Kim was. "Um- well-"

"Surely it's not such a big deal," the woman insisted, and Kim could only gape at her as the shopkeeper caught up to the small debacle, panting.

"There she is, officers! That conniving-" the shopkeeper started, pointing at Kim with a shaking hand.

"Are you the owner of the shop?" the woman asked, cutting him off, and Kim watched as the shopkeeper turned to look at her, staring for a moment.

Frankly, she couldn't blame him. The girl had just interrupted him during what was definitely going to be a sexist, disparaging comment, and he took in what the woman looked like, how her golden brown skin was almost glowing in her green cheongsam, how her dark brown eyes were sharp and passionate, her long brown hair flicking over her shoulders and hiding the slightly open collar in the smooth curtain.

"Um. . .y-yes?" he said, as though unsure, himself, and Kim almost scowled.

"Then, please, let me pay for what she stole," the woman insisted, and Kim's eyes widened once more, convinced that it must, surely, be a joke.

". . .what?" the shopkeeper asked, but the woman just dug into one of her pockets, pulling out a bright red wallet.

"I want to pay for what she stole. There's no real need to arrest her, is there?"

The shopkeeper gaped, his mouth open so wide that he could have caught flies in it before it snapped shut and he looked at the seemingly full wallet, his eyes brightening.

"You'll have to pay for the celestial key she took. And the damages she's caused to my display case," he said, his voice gleeful.

"Fine," she replied, holding her ground.

"And the door-"

"Just tell me how much it is so these police officers can go after the mage who was setting illegal charms over civilians!" she said, and the man almost flinched at the insistent tone.

"Fine," he bit out, holding his palm toward her, awaiting payment. "10000 Jewels."

Kim wanted to snap. That was far too much for some cheap display cases and a key only worth less than half of that, but without hesitancy, the woman snapped her wallet open with a crisp clack and produced the required amount, slapping it into the man's hand whilst meeting his eyes in an impressive deadpan. Kim nearly winced at the idea of all that money going to such a jerk, but she knew she would have probably demanded the exact same thing, listing her psychological torment as excuse for most of the payment.

Though the officers hesitated, they had no reason to hold onto her, anymore. Kim knew that money made the world go round, and this was absolutely no exception. They let go of her roughly, almost knocking her down to the ground where her pack and cloak had been thrown down, as well, and Kim closed her eyes, listening as the shopkeeper and police officers left. When she opened them, again, it was to the woman's hand outstretched toward her.

She almost didn't want to take it.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, and Kim scowled.

"I could have handled that myself!" she snapped, her misplaced aggression transferring onto the woman who had kept her from landing in a jail cell and probably undoing all the hard work she had done to get so far away from Diehl Manor in the first place. How was she going to join Fairy Tail if she kept making such rookie mistakes?

"I know," she said, though something in her eyes indicated that she was only humoring her. "But I owed you."

". . .owed me?" Kim asked her, wary all of a sudden. There was no telling who this woman was, and no matter how kind she appeared and how beautiful her eyes were, there was always the chance that she was sent by Kim's father to bring her home.

"When you bumped into me?" the woman said, tilting her head. "You broke that damn mage's spell."

"Um. . ."

"Aren't you a celestial mage?" she asked, confused, and Kim blinked at her, looking affronted.

"Of course I am!"

"Sorry! Sorry," she said, rearing back slightly. "I just wanted to make sure you do magic."

"Yes, I do magic," Kim grit out, tempted to glare. All things considered, however, she really didn't have any reason to be mad at the woman before her. Truthfully, she owed her, despite the fact that she was insisting the opposite. Kim had heard of charms, before. They'd been illegal for a few years.

"Well, he could do magic, too," she spat out, her gentle expression going stony. Kim almost flinched.

"Uh. . .who, exactly?"

"The man in that crowd. Ox," she hissed, her jaw looking set and rigid, and Kim blinked at her blankly for a few moments, watching as she sighed. "But it's too late, now. . .he's probably in the next town by now. Here, you should get off the floor," she insisted, holding her hand out once more.

Kim hesitated for a moment before she reached out, forgetting her injury, and the woman gasped, kneeling down immediately. "Woah! Are you okay?"

Taken aback, Kim looked down at her hand once more, having almost forgotten that it was bleeding. "Oh," she murmured, bringing her hand close to her again. "I forgot."

"Do you need bandages? I can go get some-"

"No, no need. I can heal it," Kim commented, casually, and the other woman's mouth popped open before her gaze settled down to where Kim had started glowing slightly. Before her very eyes, the wounds seemed to close up, the blood drying and clotting, the glass that had remained being forced out.

"That's incredible. . ." the woman breathed, and Kim almost blushed at the intense attention, coughing once.

"It. . .uh, it comes in handy."

"You're a celestial keys mage and you can heal? What guild do you belong to? How have I never heard of you before?"

Kim winced at the last comment. The truth was that the woman had undoubtedly heard of her before, with her prestigious Diehl name and her family's long line of magic.

"I just haven't gotten around to it," Kim defended, and upon sensing the hostility, the woman lifted her hands in front of her, placating.

"I just ask because I'm a mage, too! My name is Jackie."

Kim looked at her critically. "What kind of mage?"

Jackie smiled at her broadly. "Fire," she answered simply, and Kim lifted her brows before she schooled her features.

"Yeah? Prove it," she dared, and Jackie's grin only got wider.

"Okay," she agreed, standing up and holding her hand out for the final time. This time, Kim reached for it and felt Jackie's strong arms practically lift her up to her feet.

Actually, now that Kim thought about it, Jackie had a great set of arms and-

"You might want to stand back, a bit. I'm only gonna make a small fire, but it's pretty dangerous," Jackie broke in, and Kim nodded, taking a single step back and watching as Jackie slowly closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and holding her arms out. For a moment, nothing happened, and Kim, used to her instantaneous summons, was almost upset that for all that talk, there was no real result. She opened her mouth to say as much, but the fire sprang up before she could even breathe, and her eyes went bright as she witnessed the flames.

Jackie allowed one of her arms to drop, settling it on her hip, instead, as she held one hand out to the side and intensified the ember.

"Oh! Wow!" Kim breathed, stars in her eyes as she watched Jackie make the flames flicker and dance without so much as a second thought. They curled and glowed, bright embers held in the palm of her hand, swirling in oranges and yellows and reds. The colors reflected off of her eyes and her skin, lending her an ethereal quality, even in the broad daylight. And Kim brought her hands together in front of her, leaning forward. "That's amazing! You really are a fire mage!"

"Mmmmhm," Jackie said, her chest puffed out, pride written in every expression as she cracked one eye open, looking as though she were winking at Kim.

"What guild are you in?" Kim asked. The guild she wanted to join was pretty exclusive, but if whatever guild this girl was in had such an amazing mage, then it could be worthwhile to pursue, as well.

Jackie grinned at her, showing all her straight white teeth. "Fairy Tail," she proclaimed, and Kim's heart stopped for a moment, her eyes finally settling on Jackie's collar, which was exposed when she flicked her hair away, and Kim could see the guild mark stamped proudly on her sternum.

No.

No way.

She'd just met a Fairy Tail mage.

"You're. . .you're a. . .a real life Fairy Tail mage. . ."

Jackie nodded, still smiling at her, but there was a soft blush settling over her nose. "You've heard of Fairy Tail?" she asked, and Kim's brain almost short circuited as she leaned forward, getting into Jackie's space.

"Have I heard of-? Of course! Who hasn't heard of Fairy Tail! It's why-" Kim let out a struggled squeak. "Fairy Tail is why I'm here! Looking for keys! I-I'm trying to join but I can't until I get more keys and I just- I-" Kim cut herself off, taking in Jackie's expression, looking somewhat terrified, awed, and endeared all at the same time. The heat rushed to her cheeks when she realized that she had just lost herself in a small rant in the middle of a public square in front of a Fairy Tail mage. A cute Fairy Tail mage! A cute girl with amazing powers in Fairy Tail who had been nice to her and she-

"Well, if you're interested in it. . .maybe we could go there, together?" Jackie offered, holding her hand out once more, though this time, it was obviously not to help Kim stand, but to lead her forward.

And Kim swore her heart skipped a beat.

* * *

"And so, the lonely princess found herself a new castle! With a new queendom and a new family, where she could stay with her knight in shining armor. And they got married and are living happily ever after," Jackie finished, and Shelley almost fell out of her seat with how hard she was clapping.

Kim, for her part, rolled her eyes at Jackie's completion of the story, knowing that Jackie had oh-so-conveniently left out the rather irritating fight with Ox, when Kim had to summon Aquarius because Jackie had jumped onto the boat he was holding a party on, keeping several woman under charms, and gotten seasick. Jackie also forgot to mention that it was during that exact fight that Kim had decided that she didn't need anything more of her former life, and had asked Jackie to burn off her hair until it was in a shaggy pixie.

But she figured that a toddler didn't much need to hear about all of that. Besides, Jackie's hand was warm in Kim's, the two of them so familiar to one another, completely intertwined, the golden band on both of their left ring fingers gleaming sweetly.

"That was so good, Auntie Jack-Jack!" Shelley said, smiling so wide she was showing off all her little baby teeth.

"I'll second that," Spirit said from the corner, lifting up his newly filled cup of beer, and Kim hunched her shoulders up, leaning against Jackie.

"Yeah, yeah," Kim said, looking back at Shelley. "And that's how we met."

"And you two fell in love?" Shelley asked, hearts in her eyes. Kim couldn't help but smile as Jackie squeezed her hand.

"Yes, Shell, we did," Jackie answered for her, and Kim turned to look at her, taking in the face of the woman she'd decided to share her entire life with. Remembering the day that she met her always made her realize how lucky she'd gotten, but hearing Jackie say it, framing it as a real Fairy Tale, well, it made something in her soften.

Instead of answering Shelley and affirming Jackie's answer, Kim lifted her free hand to Jackie's cheek, turning the woman to face her. Jackie looked surprised for a moment before her expression softened and she let out a small, almost amused, "Hi."

Kim moved forward, first, gently kissing her wife on the nose, and Jackie giggled as Kim's hair tickled her cheek, but she tilted her head up and brushed their lips together, much to Shelley's delight. The girl looked as though she was watching the happy ending of one of her Disney movies, when the two main characters realized they wanted to be with each other and sealed it all with a kiss.

Well, Kim figured, she supposed it was only fitting that, finding Fairy Tail, she found her Fairy Tale ending, too.

* * *

 **This is it, the end of Reverb 2016! While this is a late entry, due to some complications in my life, I'm glad that I managed to finish it! For this Reverb, I was partnered with the absolutely wonderful Ilarual, who can be found at Ilarual dot tumblr .com! Links to her art will be provided as soon as she puts it up! I had a lot of fun writing this one, and I hope you enjoy reading it! Thank you so much for your time! 3 3**


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